For Your Life
by Marisa728
Summary: AU/AH: Jo works at a gas station with her mom, but dreams of getting out of Duluth to travel. So, when she meets Dean and John one late night and learns of their "family business" she can't resist tagging along. But it's not as easy as she thinks.
1. Road To Nowhere

**For Your Life**

_Chapter 1: Road To Nowhere_

**Tuesday, November 12, 2012. 1:30 in the afternoon. _Harvelle's _convenient store in Duluth, Minnesota.**

Jo stood there at the front counter bored as ever. The place was a ghost town and frankly she just wished that clocking out and leaving was an option, but sadly there was no way in hell that she'd get away with that. Especially with her mother in the back room watching the security camera religiously. She sucked in a deep breath and ran her fingers through her hair a few times, as if doing so would pass the time somehow. When in actuality, it probably made the time go by slower.

At least she was comfortable as she just stood there alone. She had on her favorite pair of bell-bottom jeans, a fitted gray t-shirt that seemed to ride up her torso everytime she moved even the slightest bit, and the sneakers she'd boughten with her first paycheck over five years ago. She was probably the simplest girl you'd ever meet, that is until you got under the surface of her plain-jane exterior. But, hardly anybody did, so she remained the girl that worked at the gas station with her parents and had a knife collection under her bed. It was her normal.

She leaned over onto the counter with her face cradled in her left hand as her elbow held her up off the speckled, gray-blue linoleum surface. This is about the time of the day in which she would find herself day dreaming about leaving Duluth, and traveling across the country on meaningless adventures. She'd never been outside of Minnesota except when she and her mother went down to Sioux Falls, South Dakota to spend Christmas with her "Uncle" Bobby. But unfortunately, that trip had been cancled the past couple years since her dad and Bobby had had a sort of falling out over something that she still didn't even understand.

There were places that she had seen in movies, ones that she could only dream of visiting someday: Virginia, Arizona, Washington, California, even Missouri. But, honestly, what person didn't want to leave Duluth as soon as possible? The answer to that question was easy. Her dad. And he'd be damned before letting her leave town to pursue something so stupid as traveling. It was easy for him to say since he was gone for weeks at a time anyhow.

The sound of the 'back room' door slamming shut brought her back out of her day dreams. She leaned up from the counter and watched as her mother was walking out with a couple boxes of styrofoam cups and coffee creamer. Those two items were things that they would all-too often run out of around there. Sure it didn't make much sense for those of all things to run out as quickly as they did, but they always did without fail.

"So, Jo... What we day dreaming about today?" Ellen shot Jo a knowing smirk and a quick wink of her left eye as she walked around over to the soda fountain machine.

Jo rolled her eyes and just gave her mother an overly sarcastic 'ha, ha'. It was completely normal for her mother to be this way with her. The whole teasing-mother-daughter relationship that the two of them had wasn't something you found to often. Ellen was the woman that you either loved or hated. There was no in-between with her and, if you let her, she could be a royal bitch or the mother you wished that you had.

Ellen dropped the boxes to the floor and then squated down in front of them before wipping out her pocket razor and slicing through the tape that kept the cardboard sealed around the items inside. She began pulling out the stacks of styrofoam cups and expertly loading them into the despenser. Then without a second beat she had done the same to the box of coffee creamers and started tossing handfulls into the empty basket beside the spouts of coffee. If there were an olympics for restocking merchandise, she would win the gold medal in every event no doubt.

"Man, it really is dead in here today, ain't it, honey." Ellen's eyebrows furrowed. Causing her forehead to wrinkle like it had been for the past fifteen years now. "How about we close up a little early today? What do you say?"

There was something a little off with her mom suddenly and Jo knew it immediately. She had lost count of how many times she had asked if they could close up the place early, but the answer was always the same. A big, fat no. So when she heard her mother say these words, she wasn't sure what to say except for the obvious question that hung silently in the air.

"What's the occasion? You never like to close up early." Jo slowly made her way from around the counter and over to where he mother stood. She couldn't think of one thing that would cause this kind of attitude from her mom. Unless, of course, there was some little piece of information that she happened to be missing. She was sort of betting on the later possiblity.

"Hey, if you don't wanna close up early then-" Ellen threw her hands up in surrender as her words trailed off in response to her daughter's question.

"No, no! I was just asking. Closing up early sounds terrific." Jo chuckled lightly at her mom's reaction. She shook her head as she began to wonder why she had for even a second questioned her mom's motives. Ellen always had seen the world a little different and had always had her own perspective on things; this just so happened to be one of them apparently.

"Great. We'll close at 9:30 tonight then." Ellen picked up the empty boxes from the floor then and looked back at her daughter with a slight grin. Then in the next second she was retreating for the back room again, but this time it was most likely because her soap's would be starting any minute now. That was the other thing that she seemed to watch religiously. Specifically, _Days of Our Lives_. "Oh, by the way.. Dad's coming home tonight and I'm making meatloaf." The slam of the back room door ended that conversation immediately.

Jo was surprised at the way her mother just seemed to quickly slip in that last piece of information before retreating into the back room. Her eyes widened at just hearing the news and she was increasingly nervous all of a sudden. Her dad had been gone for at least a month now and before he left neither of them were speaking to each other.

"Oh, joy." Maybe it was time to start believing in karma because tonight's turn of events was a definite sign that it was not some joke to be messed with. Karma was a bitch. And tonight was going to be awkward.

**9:45 in the evening. A closed Harvelle's convienient store. **

Jo was on edge as she awaited her dad's unexpected arrival. Her hands were shaking and she hadn't even stopped pacing long enough to roll up her apron and count the register. Before her dad had left on his last business trip they had gotten into a big argument about her leaving to travel like she wanted. Of course, Bill, her dad, wouldn't have any of that. He wanted to keep her on as short of leash as possible and keep her under his roof for as long as he wished. He would never admit to it, nor would Jo or Ellen, but he was an abusive man. Bill had hit Ellen for as long as Jo could remember and continued to take it even now. Jo however got treated a little differently; one minute she could be daddy's little princess and then the next minute she was the little blonde bitch that did everything wrong. It was part of the reason she was willing to do anything to get out of Duluth and hopefully Minnesota in the same trip.

**10:02 in the evening.**

Ellen is busy cooking her 'imfamous meatloaf' over in their little trailer home across the parking lot. They never could afford a real house or apartment with Bill's lack of salary and the little profit that they they tended to make off the gas station. Jo had finally found it in her to stop pacing and just grab a section of linoleum and sit behind the counter with her knees bent up against her chest.

Bill finally pulls up out front in his red, '68 Mustang Fashback. Also known as his pride an joy since he'd build her from the ground up with scrap pieces from 'Uncle" Bobby's salvage yard. He cut the engine out front and pulled out the keys with liughtning speed as he then proceeded to get out of the driver's seat and slam the door behind him. He was pissed off already; he never did take to liking the way some people had the audactiy to cut him off on the highway. Bill was after all a very short tmpered man.

Ellen and Jo both heard the car door slam like it was a fire alarm. They knew what was coming next and neither of them were prepared to cushion the several blows to come. Not necessarily hitting, but yelling mostly.

Ellen quickly pulled the now cooked meatlof from the small oven and set it down on the table with a cloth to keep the heat from scorching the fake wood that was the dinner table. Bill walked inside within seconds of the dinner being set out. He sucked in a deep breath and turned his gaze on his wife.

"Hey, hun... Miss me?" He asked with a cocky, crooked grin that only lasted about two seconds. He then went to the fridge and grabbed a beer.

" 'Course I did. Nothing's the same without around." Ellen actually meant what she said, of course, she didn't mean it exactly how it sounded either. Nothing was the same when he was out on business. It was quiet and usually peaceful. "You want any meatloaf with that beer?" She raised her left eyebrow curiously. Ellen always did know how to joke around with her husband and most of the time he even laughed. But when he was royally pissed off all she heard was yelling. Luckily he was still in a semi-good mood for the time being.

"Where's Jo?" He asked with pensive eyes, although he really didn't care all that much as long as she was actually still 'inside the perimeter'.

"Counting the register. We closed up a little early tonight so that I could make you some dinner. She should be in here in a few minutes."

That's when Bill got up from the plastic chair he had been sitting in and walked right back out the door without a word. He was walking straight for the store. Bill had never taken to liking the way Jo tended to count the register, and of course h didn't trust her with _his_ money to well either. He was always afraid of her pocketing a few hundred and running away to God knows where. Where he couldn't get to her. He burst through the glass double door in seconds whilst taking another swig from his beer.

"Dad.. Hey." Jo jumped up from the floor, startled as she suddenly heard and saw her dad walking through the door.

"Hey kiddo. Is all my money still in there?" Bill didn't waste one second before getting straight to the point he was trying to make. His eyes were serious. Even scary if you hadn't seen that look before.

"All two-hundred dollars. Check it if you want." Jo stepped back away from the register with her hands raised in surrender. She then looked at the doors again as Ellen walked inside.

"Bill, com'on. Jo ain't gonna steal from the store. I'm sure if she wnted money she would have gotten some by now." Ellen decided to play the 'stupid card' to try and save her daughter's ass. Little did Jo know, but Ellen had caught her stealing twenty bucks from the register just last week; thankfully she had replaced the difference as soon as she found out. Ellen knew for certain that if Bill ever found out that little truth that both of their asses would be up a pole.

"Yeah, dad. Rufus down the street has been checking me out a lot in the last month. I'm sure he'd appreciate a little-"

"Alright! I got it, I got it..." Bill cut off Jo's words as soon as he knew where she was going with them. He'd heard the same spiel over and over from her and frankly he knew she's never do anything like that anyways. Humoring her just seemed to keep her quiet for a while, so that's what he did. "Now if you'll excuse me. I've got meatloaf and beer waiting for me at home." With a huff and grumble of something under his breath he walked back out of the store and headed for the trailer again.


	2. I've Just Seen A Face

_Chapter 2: I've Just Seen A Face_

**10:45 in the evening.**

Jo let out a long sigh of relief after Bill had gone back toward the trailer. Her hands were propped up on the edge of the counter, her elbows locked as she held herself there for a moment. She'd been doing this back and forth thing with her dad for as long as she can remember, and every time she wondered if this would in fact be the day that he hit her. That he finally gave her one undeniable reason to pack up and leave. But the thing was, she couldn't just leave her mom with him, even though that woman could take care of herself just fine.

"Goddammit, mom... A little more than eight-hours warning would be nice the next time dad decides to come home." Jo finally lifted her gaze to her mother's unapologetic shrug.

"You know how he is darlin'. You know as soon as I do." Ellen replied with a gentle sigh as she shoved her hands down in the pockets of her jeans.

"I'm just sayin'..."

"Me too." Ellen replied, effectively ending that conversation.

**10:50 in the evening.**

"Seriously? Did they really not see that the sign is clearly turned off out there?" Jo stated, slightly annoyed, as she looked out at a pair of headlights on a big black pick-up pulling up to a very obviously unlit gas pump outside.

Ellen turned her head to take a look just as a middle aged, scruffy-looking man and his much younger counterpart climbed out of the pick-up. It was dark outside, which made the features of the two men's faces hard to make out, but there was instant recognition on Ellen's face as soon as she laid her eyes on them.

"What in the sam-hell is that man doing here?" Elena mumbled under her breath, however not quiet enough that Jo didn't overhear.

"What? You know them?" Jo asked as she stepped out from behind the counter to stand next to her mother in utter curiosity as they approached the glass doors.

Ellen ignored her daughter's questions and crossed her arms over her chest as she sternly looked upon the two men as they stepped inside of the long closed store.

Jo leaned back on the counter on her elbows, relaxed as she watched and waited for someone to say something.

"You gotta lotta nerve stepping through those doors Winchester." Ellen directed her words to the older man, seeing as she was unfamiliar with the younger one.

"Nice to see you, too, Ellen." The older man breathed out as he removed his hands from his coat pockets.

Jo couldn't help but crack a smile at the friendly banter the two were engaged in. Of course that didn't keep her from noticing the way that the younger one hadn't taken his eyes off of her for more than ten seconds at a time; he too, with a crooked grin playing around the edges of his lips.

"What are you doing here, John? _I_ may have forgiven you long ago, but that don't mean Bill has, so I suggest you just go get back in that truck of yours and leave my family and I alone for good this time."

"I didn't come here to dredge up the past. Dean and I were just passing through and needed-" John was cut off suddenly by Ellen's interjection.

"Wait... Dean? You mean to tell me that this grown man you got with you is the same little wayward six year old that used to get my Jo, here, into trouble all the time?"

"Hey, wait a minute... Now the way I remember it was that your little Jo could get into her trouble without any help from Dean." The scruffy man laughed a deep, hearty, chuckle that only grew louder when Ellen leaned over and smacked him on the arm.

"Yeah, well I do okay..." Jo chimed in with a smile and a shrug of her bare shoulders. The look on her face was almost cocky, however modest at the same time.

"I'm sure you do." The younger man, Dean, said, finally breaking his own prolonged silence as John and Ellen played a 'bantery' version of 'catch-up'.

Dean's eyes were on Jo again, as her eyes turned on him as well. Neither of them remembered one another specifically, but there was a definite familiarity in the way they looked at each other. Though, for whatever reason, John and Ellen seemed blissfully unaware of the two's connection in that moment, having wrapped themselves in a world of stories from the past.

**11:17 in the evening. Harvelle family mobile home.  
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Bill sat at the small round table with his nearly finished, second plate of meatloaf, knocking back his fourth bottle of beer, whilst watching the Vikings game. His team was loosing, again, and boy was that a bad combination with his already edgy mood and present consumption of alcohol.

Flag on the play, defense.

"Shit!" Bill exclaimed as he threw the empty beer bottle at the tv. He missed, but managed to hit the wall beside it, causing a couple of old pictures to knock over on each other like dominoes. He grumbled lowly to himself as he pushed away from the small table and walked over to clean up the mess he'd just made. Bill might have been one hell of a mean drunk, but and least he was mannered and knew where he stood when it came down to his wife and their little home here. He didn't even think to cross that line too far.

As he was picking up the large pieces of amber glass from the small side table and the floor, he noticed a couple of pictures that were sat behind others, out of view to anyone who wasn't looking hard enough.

Both of the pictures had been taken by Ellen: one of them being a picture of Jo when she was about three years old, playing in a sprinkler with a couple of young boys, one blonde and the other brunette, the second picture was of himself and Ellen, and another couple that they used to be real good friends with. Hell, Bill and the other guy were practically brothers. That other couple was John and Mary Winchester, the parents of the two young boys that were playing with Jo in the other photo.

Bill could feel his blood pressure rising as he remembered what John had done to him twelve years ago; the reason he never wanted to see that bastard again. He'd thought Ellen felt the same way, but then why would she have kept these pictures? Why had she kept any remembrance of that piece of shit in this house?

He gritted his teeth together. Those five beers had his thoughts all in a jumble, but he was without a doubt enraged.

Bill wasted no time in stomping from the mobile home, headed toward the store where Ellen and Jo currently were. However, as he neared the building, he thought he was seeing a ghost. Seeing a figment of his imagination, spawned from pure anger. Though as he continued on closer and closer he knew that what he saw was completely real. He'd know that coat and that truck anywhere.

"You goddamn, son of a bitch! Where the hell do you think you're going!" He started into a jog, but only to be stopped dead in his tracks when he saw the unbelievable.

There stood his only daughter, only child, beside John and Dean, while his wife, Ellen stood across the way from them by the front door of their little family store.

"Hold on, Bill, stop!" Ellen yelled, suddenly wide-eyed as she saw her husband standing there, not even fifteen feet away from either of them.

"Where do you think you're doing, Jo?" Bill asked, surprisingly calm at the moment. But everyone knew that he was just giving them all a chance to get smart and fall back in line.

"Hey, now, Bill, nothing's gonna happen to her. She'll be-" John started to say, but was quickly cut off by old friend.

"Does it sound like I'm talking to you?"

John was just quiet, then, he knew a drunk-Bill when he saw one and he knew exactly what could happen if he got anymore pissed off than he already was.

"That's what I thought." Bill turned his gaze back to his daughter, standing there beside, obviously, John's oldest boy. It had always been easy for Bill to tell apart the two, young Winchester boys: Dean looked most like his late mother and Sam had always looked a bit more like John than Mary.

Jo opened her mouth to say something to her irate father, but no sound came out. Instead, Ellen thought that now was a good time to speak up again.

"Bill, she knows." Bill heard those three words and slowly tore his eyes away from his daughter, over to his wife; staring her down like a lion stalking its prey. He had never wanted to tell Jo of his job, and what he really does when he goes out on his 'business trips'. Hunting was dangerous and he couldn't imagine his little girl going out and risking her life for something that often seemed like a lost cause from time to time. He couldn't imagine her putting her life into someone's hands and then getting burned in the process, like he had foolishly done before; especially the hands of a Winchester.

In that moment that Bill had turned to look at Ellen, his eyes were completely off of the other three, so Jo took it upon herself to nudge the two guys and motion to their truck. It was a bit of a long shot that they'd get away with all this, but Jo would be damned if she didn't leave now.

John quickly but quietly rounded the front of the large black truck, opened the driver side door and slid in without some much as a scuff of his boots on the asphalt.

Dean and Jo then backed up quickly to the passenger door within the next second. Dean put his hand on the car door, knowing they would have to time this just perfectly so that Bill would be so disoriented that he didn't get his footing right away. Sure there was a fifteen or so distance between them, but for all he knew, Bill could have been a completely functional drunk.

**11:21 in the evening.**

Everything happened in a matter of seconds. So fast that it all sort of just blurred together.

**11:21:15.**

John started up the truck.

**11:21:16.**

Bill snapped his head around and his disoriented gaze fell on Dean and Jo standing there by the idling truck.

**11:21:18.**

Dean swung open the passenger side door.

**11:21:20.**

Bill gathers himself enough to start moving his feet, immediately breaking into a run.

**11:21:22.**

Dean helps Jo up into the truck as she begins to panic.

"Go! We have to go, now!" Jo screams at John as she gets seated in the middle of the trucks bench seat, wedged comfortably between John and Dean as soon as he gets in.

She whips her head around just as Dean is shutting the door, to see Bill gaining speed and closing the distance between himself and the truck.

"Go! Go, now! Drive!" She yelled again.

John knocked the truck down into gear and immediately started out of the parking lot with a few quick jerks of the steering wheel. Though to everyone's surprise, Bill was still gaining speed as he ran after the black truck.

At the entrance to the street from the parking lot, John completely blew past the STOP sign and rather pulled right out in front of a white Jeep, who's driver let him know full well what he had just done with an obscene finger gesture and a loud blare of his horn.

John didn't care, but what he did care about was the fact that Bill was still chasing after them on foot, and managing to even close the distance between them with a few drunken strides. High school track would have done wonders for that man if he had decided to go.

Bill took the opportunity, once he was fairly close, to throw the picture frame he had still been holding in his hand from the house, right at the rear window of the truck. The one with the picture of him, Ellen, John and his late wife, Mary. It hit square in the middle and the shattered glass on the frame, and managed to practically sound like a gunshot to the three sitting in the cab. They all jumped, however John seemed unfazed.

"What the Hell was that?" Jo asked rhetorically as she looked around for an answer.

"Damn, he's still chasing us?" Dean asked dubiously as he turned and looked out the back window to see Bill still running.

"Oh, yeah, running was one of the many things that man was always good at..." John said with a smile as he remembered a couple of good times he had had with Bill on a few cases that they had worked a long time ago. But then, much quieter, he murmured something else, not meant to be heard. "...right next to drinking."

John revved the engine and pushed the gas pedal down to the ground, finally pulling away substantially from Bill's efforts to catch up. And soon, Bill stopped, after about another mile of chasing darkness and the black truck that had been engulfed by it.


	3. It's My Life

_Chapter 3: It's My Life_

**11:30 in the evening. Hwy 53/I-535 Junction, Minnesota boarder. **

John knew that driving the interstate was trouble with a capitol T, but Duluth was so damn small that to get anywhere you had to first hook up with the I-35 and either head west and get on C.S.A.H. route 56, or cross over into Wisconsin by way of the Blatnik Bridge. John had strategically chosen the later, just in case Bill decided to try and check up on them, because the obvious, "hunter-way", was to take the back roads, not the busy highways and interstates.

Jo sat there quiet in the middle of the two guys with her arms folded across her torso, she had forgotten till now that she was even still wearing her little, white apron.

She thought over everything that had just happened, second by second, but the harder she tried to remember every detail the more of a blur it all became. Jo sighed and raked her fingers through her light blond waves deciding right then to just block all of that out until a later date.

"So, explain to me again why we're going to Iowa?" Jo said suddenly, breaking the prolonged silence that had filled the truck cab. Dean was the first to speak up.

"Well we've been tracking these two...uh...renegades, per se, since Virginia and we've got a strong lead that tells us they're gonna be in Iowa and-"

"Wait, wait, wait... that's the part I don't get. You said hunters specialized in hunting demons and ghosts and angels and levio...?" Jo started.

"Leviathans." Dean said matter-of-factly when he noticed her having trouble with the word.

"Right, yeah, but what's so supernatural about a couple of renegades?"

"Nothing really, besides the fact that they've also been killing people, some our friends, for nearly a decade."

"What do you mean?"

"Making shady deals with a few crossroads demons in Wyoming and Colorado, summoned a reaper in North Dakota, then there was major demonic activity right near Duluth so that's what brought us there. Now, from a semi-credible source in Iowa, there's been reports of someone stealing bodies out of cemeteries." Dean listed off the top of his head with absolute ease. "'Course we aren't exactly sure how those things all fit together quite yet, but we're close. I can feel it."

Jo just nodded, without another word. Hearing about the truth of what her dad really did for a living and what John and Dean did wasn't really all that surprising to her. Almost like she'd known it all along in the back of her head, but only now was it being confirmed. It confused her as to why her mom and dad had never wanted to tell her about hunters and that all her nightmares were real. It would have made growing up a hell of a lot easier for her; being the girl with a knife collection instead of a Barbie Dream House. But, then again, thinking back, maybe it was for the best.

Silence fell over the three of them again. Though, this time, at least, Dean had took it upon himself to turn on the radio. Ozzy Osbourne's _'Road To Nowhere'_ came over the speakers and Jo laid her head back against the seat.

The three of them sat like this for a long time.

**12:05 in the morning.**

The full moon peaked out from behind the pine trees lining the highway and the dark sky was clear. Foreigner's _'I Want to Know What Love Is'_ played from the speakers on low volume.

Jo was tired. She could feel her eyelids grow heavy as she stared out at the softly illuminated road ahead of them.

John continued to stare out at the road ahead, seemingly wide awake, with a blank look on his face.

Dean slept away with his head leaned against the frame of the passenger door. He had always had the talent to fall asleep where ever he was, even if he was still standing up.

Suddenly there's a flash of light deep in the trees on the right side of the highway. Jo only caught a glimpse of it as she was beginning to finally nod off, but John saw it and immediately pulled off into the soft shoulder of the road. As soon as he cut the engine, Dean came too and groggily opened his eyes with a sort of urgency.

"What happened?" Dean asked as he rubbed his hands over his face and through his short hair.

"A flash of light in the woods." John said quickly, purposely not giving anymore details than absolutely necessary.

"So..." Jo said with a pensive stare in John's direction. She was confused as to why a flash of light in the middle of the woods was so significant to their hunt. However, the more she thought about it, the more odd it seemed, and she remembered that the M.O. of most hunts was based upon strange and odd happenings.

John didn't say anything in response to Jo's implied question and didn't waste another second before climbing out of the truck and going around to the bed. Without another word, Dean followed obediently and Jo followed out of curiosity.

Once they all gathered at the back of the truck, John folded down the end gate to reveal a large silver tool box. Nothing weird here, Jo figured that he was just going to grab a flashlight out or something, but boy was she wrong when he lifted up the lid and out popped several drawers of various weapons. The silver box had expanded to twice it's original size and inside of it was drawer after drawer of various guns, knives, spears, grenades, vials of blood, as well as a few unknown items that Jo didn't have a name for.

She was taken aback by the sight, but when Dean tossed her a double barreled shotgun she snapped back to reality and immediately took that moment to load it up with the two rounds he gave her next.

"Rock salt. Not deadly to humans, but still hurts like hell and it'll slow a person down enough so we can catch'em." Dean mentioned as he watched her load up the gun and expertly cock the weapon without missing a single beat. He had to admit, it turned him on a little.

Jo nodded. Now that she thought about it, she could remember her dad saying close to that exact line once, a long time ago, when he was showing her how he made his own bullets. She'd even gotten to help him make a couple of rock salt shells, though she never really understood the reason behind it until now.

Dean went to grab an engraved knife for himself, but John instead handed him a long silver blade.

"You think it's angels?" Dean asked with disbelief. They hadn't come across angels for a couple of years now, for reasons unbeknownst to them, but Dean still had his doubts that they would ever cross paths again.

"All I'm saying is I ain't seen a light like that one since them." John stated simply as he grabbed another silver blade for himself, as well as .45.

"You think it has anything to do with Jim and Sammy?" Dean said then, his hazel eyes almost hopeful as he thought about the possibility of seeing his little brother again.

"I wouldn't get your hopes up, Dean." John replied curtly, followed with a nod of Dean's head. Dean knew what was at stake here. He knew that it wasn't likely he would ever get his brother back, but hell, he'd be damned if he didn't try to; no matter what his dad said.

"Alright, well, what's the plan then?" Jo spoke up finally after having just sat by and listened with confusion as to what the hell these two guys were talking about; angels and lights and some people named Jim and Sammy.

"I go in with you both on my flanks about fifteen seconds behind me. Shoot first-" John started.

"Ask questions later. Yeah, yeah, okay." Jo butted in, remembering hearing her dad say it time and time again.

"You are definitely Bill and Ellen's daughter." John murmured with a subtle grin threatening the intensity of his stern exterior. However, the grin was short lived as John snapped back into hunting mode.

Dean and Jo followed John directions and went in on his flanks, fifteen seconds behind. None of them had any clue what they were looking for, but it seemed as though angels were the prime intention.

The three of them were nearing the approximate place where John had seen the light flash in the woods, but instead of angels, or anything else of the supernatural sort, there lay a whimpering dog in the brush.

Jo and Dean lowered their weapons, however John remained in a ready stance as he stepped closer to the dog.

"Could be a shifter, but I've never heard of one being accompanied by a flash of light." Dean said simply as he walked up closer to the dog, slipping his gun into the back of his pants and tucking the silver blade up into the arm of his coat and then kneeling down beside the little white fur ball.

"Me neither..." John said with confusion in his voice as he finally lowered his gun half way, still ready for anything.

Jo walked over and knelt down opposite of Dean, laying the shotgun on the ground beside her and gently placing her hand on the dog.

"Hey, careful!" Dean said with urgency in his voice as he went to reach for her arm, but he quickly retracted it when the animal didn't react maliciously.

"I'm fine, Dean." Jo murmured as she pulled her hand over the dog's dirty, white hair. Her hand stopped suddenly, though, when she felt something hard and a little wet on its hind leg. Her eyebrows creased in the middle as she leaned down closer to get a better look, but to no avail; it was much to dark out here.

John acted quickly and retrieved a flashlight from his coat pocket; turning it on before handing it to her.

"Here."

Jo glanced up at John and grabbed the flashlight from him, then instantly turned the light back on the dog's hind leg where she had felt the obvious wound. Only when she finally got the light on it did she the severity of it however.

"Tell me that is not a bullet wound because that is a bullet wound." She said rhetorically, enunciating every syllable as she went. Jo felt her heart sink a little in her chest just thinking about who could have shot a dog in the leg like this and then just leave it in the middle of the woods.

Jo had seen her share of cuts and gashes and bullet wounds and all sorts of injuries, some by her own doing, and she was completely comfortable around them, but she could never quite handle seeing a hurt animal no matter how hard she tried.

Dean watched Jo as she looked down at the dog. Seeing her freak out a little about this made him want to protect her. It made him a little sad even and all he wanted to do was fix it. Of course, right now his dad was standing over them and he did have a bit of a reputation to protect here, so he refrained from wrapping his arm around her and pulling her away from the injured dog.

"We've got a suture kit back at the truck. The wound doesn't look too bad and it seems pretty fresh so I'll bet we can fix him, good as new." Dean mentioned with that same sound of hope as before in his voice.

Jo sighed and nodded. Everything about her now relaxed frame said that she was glad that the dog would be alright; as was Dean. John however, was completely distanced from the whole conversation that Dean and Jo had just had. Instead he had his sights on something deep in the trees, seemingly tucked away by the way he kept squinting his eyes in an effort to maybe see more than he could in this light.

"Shine that flashlight over at the those trees again. I thought I saw something." John said.

Dean grabbed the flashlight from Jo and stood up then as he shined the beam of light around at the trees where John had instructed. He saw nothing at first, but after adjusting the light again he could see it. The light from the flashlight bounced off of a smooth, deep red, shiny surface; something that had no business being in the middle of a forest.

"What the hell?" He said with pensive eyes as he walked closer to it.

John quickly extended his arm and put his hand against Dean's chest to stop his advance toward the unknown foreign object back in the trees.

"Wait, son." John said before taking a step to the side and then crouching down to get a better look from a different angle. He had his suspicions of what it could be, but it was so damn hard to see in the lack of light. After a moment, he snapped his fingers at Dean, without looking away from the trees, gesturing for him to give up the flashlight. Dean obeyed and tossed it over to the older Winchester. John immediately pointed the beam of light on the smooth, red surface again, this time moving it lower until it landed on a Virginia license plate with the combination of letters and numbers reading: TS7-45GR.

It was then that Jo perked her head up to see what the two guys were looking at.

"Why is...?" Her face instantly matched Dean's already confused expression.

Mere seconds passed before suddenly there was a loud gunshot, followed by the squealing of tires against asphalt not too far off in the distance. The three of them jumped a started looking around, weapons poised ready for whatever came at them, however nothing came. Instead that shiny red car stowed away in the trees, abruptly revved up its engine.

"Dean, Jo! Back to the truck!" John called out as the car started pulling out of the trees, its tail lights giving away its ever changing location throughout the wooded area.

Swiftly, Dean scooped up the small white dog and nudged Jo to start running in the direction of the road where the truck was still parked. John followed behind the two of them closely, whilst still managing to keep an eye on the retreating tail lights of the mysterious red car.

Once back at the car, the three of them quickly piled in and John started up the engine. Seconds later they were back off down the road, flying down the dark asphalt in the same direction as the red car had been traveling. There was no possible way that whoever was driving that car had a chance of getting out ahead of them, but as a hunter you've always gotta be prepared for the unexpected.

As Dean looked out at the lines of trees on the side of the road, he could still see the faint lights of the car weaving through the trees. It was then that he had realized why that car seemed so familiar, why that fashion of driving seemed so familiar. It was because he drove like that, and he'd been the one to teach that driver the same technique. He knew who the driver of that mysterious red car was.

It was Sammy.

His little brother.


End file.
